BEIJING, July 9, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - China's consumer prices stabilised in June as energy and commodities prices cooled, official data showed on Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI), a key measure of inflation, rose last month 1.0 percent year-on-year, edging lower from 1.2 percent in May, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

It fell slightly below a Bloomberg forecast of 1.1 percent.

However, last month's CPI was still well below the government's two percent target for the year.

"Factors such as imported international price pressures contributed to a slowdown in the rate of increase for domestic industrial consumer goods prices," according to Dong Lijuan, chief NBS statistician.

The growth rates of prices for gold jewellery and gasoline also eased, Dong added.

The uptick in Chinese inflation caused by the Iran war "continued to unwind in June, amid lower prices for oil and many other commodities", said Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics.

"The latest escalation in US-Iran tensions could deliver some renewed upward pressure on inflation in the near-term," Evans-Pritchard wrote in a note.

US President Donald Trump ordered new strikes on Iran on Wednesday and warned of "much worse" if Tehran continues to attack vessels in the vital Strait of Hormuz.

He said earlier that a ceasefire with Iran was over, prompting mediators Pakistan and Qatar and the United Nations to call for de-escalation.

But Evans-Pritchard added that the impact of an escalation of US-Iran tensions will "remain limited to a few narrow areas and inflation still looks set to return near zero once energy supply normalises".

The June producer price index (PPI), which measures wholesale inflation, increased by 4.1 percent on-year -- up from 3.9 percent in May -- and was in line with Bloomberg's forecast.

The figure marked the quickest pace since July 2022, when the PPI came in at 4.2 percent.

The gauge had been in negative territory since that October and did not reverse until March this year.

The steady rise was partly driven by industries like coal mining and electrical machinery manufacturing "experiencing price increases", NBS' Dong said.